Offshore staff
BERGEN, Norway – Odfjell Drilling has a pre-contract award from BP to provide a newbuild, semisubmersible rig for drilling west of Shetland in the UK sector.
The $1.2-billion contract, excluding options, is the largest in Odfjell Drilling’s 40-year history.
The rig will work on the Schiehallion/Loyal fields for the Quad 204 development. The full contract, subject to approval by the Quad 204 partners, will have a fixed duration of seven years and is due to start in late 2014.
The new sixth generation rig will be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea.
Odfjel Drilling President and CEO Simen Lieungh said: “The new rig for BP is of the enhanced GVA7500 harsh environment design and will be a sister rig of the Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Stavanger previously delivered to us by DSME.”
Construction engineering has started with keel laying scheduled for March 2013.
Earlier this month, the drillship Deepsea Metro II arrived at the DCD-Dorbyl Marine shipyard in Cape Town to undergo planned modifications ahead of a three-year, $531-million contract for Petrobras off Brazil.
Odfjell Drilling & Technology (OD&T) is managing the modification project in Cape Town.
Deepsea Metro II was delivered from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) last November. Odfjell Drilling has a 40% ownership, the remainder held by the Metrostar Group.
01/11/2012
